HOW TO RECONCILE YOUR CASH ACCOUNTS

Transcription

1 HOW TO RECONCILE YOUR CASH ACCOUNTS Monthly all accounts under must be reconciled (excluding the Petty Cash account or accounts where the statements may not be sent on a monthly basis in that case the account would be reconciled upon receipt of the statement). This is done so that the account is reconciled to the statement from the bank or financial institution on a regular basis. To reconcile an account go to the Home Page, select the Reconcile Icon which is found in the lower right hand section of the Home Page. The following window will appear. This screen must be completed properly in order to properly reconcile the desired account. Select the Account that you wish to Reconcile by clicking the drop down arrow and choosing the applicable account. 1

2 In this example the Washington Mutual Checking account is selected to reconcile. Next check the statement date date of the statement you are reconciling from. to ensure it is set to the Next check the Beginning Balance field to ensure it has the same balance as the Bank Statement. The Beginning Balance should be the balance from the last reconcile. If there are discrepancies you should click the question and allow QuickBooks (QBs) to assist you with finding the discrepancy. You can also call a Moose Technical Trainer for assistance. Next you will enter the Ending Balance from the Bank Statement. Now you will review the Bank Statement to determine if there are any service charges or interest earned that must be posted on the reconcile screen. The amounts are entered as the amount from the bank statement. NOTE: It is NOT appropriate to enter NSF charges in the Service Charge field since this field is exclusively for service charges imposed by the bank for the servicing of the account. Use the NSF Check Procedure to enter any charges received on your bank statement for NSF Checks returned including bank charges. Other fees (i.e., internet charges, debit card charges, etc.) should be entered using a different procedure. I recommend using the Write Checks function in QBs. Go to the Home Page and select the Checks Icon. 2

3 Next complete the screen to show the charges incurred to your account for services automatically posted to your account. An example is provided below: Notice the check number (No.) field has been left blank since this Click Save & Close to save the entered data. This will post the charge and create a permanent record of the charge since it was posted individually by the bank. This will also appear in the reconciliation window so it can be cleared during the reconcile process. Next enter the date that the service charge was posted to the account. Next enter the Account to which the charges should be expensed has already been established by Moose International for bank charges. Next enter the appropriate class for the charge to be posted to. For the Interest Earned enter the amount earned, then the date the interest was posted to the account, enter the appropriate Account which is Interest Investment Income and the appropriate class. 3

4 Click the button to continue to the Reconciliation screen. If you do not assign a class the following screen will appear. Cancel and go back and enter the appropriate class. 4

5 This screen will display all outstanding checks and deposits. In the lower right hand corner it displays the service charge and interest earned as you entered it from the previous screen. It also provides the Ending Balance and tells you what the current difference is that needs to be cleared in order to reconcile the account. As you click on each cleared item the Difference field will change. Your goal is to get the Difference field to be 0.00, which tells you that you have successfully reconciled the account. To clear an item you will need to click on the item that shows on the bank statement. This will cause it to have a checkmark in the checkmark column showing that it is a cleared item. NOTE: As you are clearing items in the reconcile screen it is marking them with an * asterisk in the register of the account. When the reconciliation is complete each reconciled item will appear in the account register as a checkmark which identifies it as a cleared item. 5

6 When you have completed clearing of the items shown on the bank statement, the result in the Difference field should be When this is completed you can click the button to update QBs with the reconciled items. NOTE: Never allow QBs to automatically reconcile if there is a discrepancy. If the Difference is not 0.00 do not click the Reconcile Now button until you have located and corrected the discrepancy. Allowing QBs to automatically reconcile the account will result in a Balance Adjustment record being created in the account you are reconciling. This is a general journal entry transaction that is created by QBs for the discrepancy. It does not resolve the out of balance condition in the account. The following screen will appear telling you that you have successfully reconciled the account. You will have the option to display or print a reconciliation report. 6

7 Click Display to display the report in another window where you will also have the option to print the report or click Print to print the report so that you can include it with your bank statement for review by the audit committee. You have now successfully completed the reconciliation of the checking account. Proceed to reconcile any other checking accounts that the fraternal unit may have. Next the savings account must also be reconciled. To proceed to reconcile another account go to the Home Page and select the Reconcile Icon. First complete the Begin Reconciliation screen by selecting the account, the statement date per the bank statement, and the ending balance per the bank statement. Next enter the interest earned on the account, the date per the bank statement, the account for posting the interest earned, the Class and then click the Continue button. 7

8 Simply by entering the interest earned the account is reconciled and the Difference is Click the Reconcile Now button and the account will be reconciled. NOTE:If other transactions (i.e., transfers, withdraws, deposits) appear in the screen they will need to be cleared if they appear on the statement. The Select Reconciliation Report window that shows that the reconciliation was successful is displayed with the option to Display, Print or Close the window. 8

9 Choose the Print option so the reconciliation summary and detail reports are printed for the audit committee and fraternal unit records. This completes the reconciliation of the cash accounts. 9